Later years
by Rehtaeh1
Summary: Life after school for Harry is great, he has a good job, and he might be minister of magic, but something has happened to Hogwarts and its up to Harry and his friends to save the school
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter walked up to the Weasleys doorstep. Ginny was cooking lunch for her and her parents when the doorbell rang, she went to answer it. "Harry!, how nice to see you!" she said wiping flower off her face "but I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow when Ron came home". 

Harry smiled "I couldn't wait that long to see you again". 

Ginny blushed "come on in" she said leading the way. "Would you like some lunch, I just took it out of the oven". 

"Yes please" he said sitting down at the table. 

"Let me go and get my parents" said Ginny. Harry nodded and Ginny went upstairs. Soon Ginny came back down followed by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Oh Harry dear!" said Mrs. Weasley hugging him and kissing him on the cheek. Mr. Weasley walked over and shook Harry's hand "good to see you again Harry" he said. The three of them sat down as Ginny went over to get the food. She sat down and they all started to eat 

"So Harry how's work at the ministry?" asked Mr. Weasley 

"Great!" said Harry "they have asked me if I wanted to run for minister of magic". Mr. Weasley looked shocked "Did Fudge already retire?" he asked. 

"Yes" said Harry "and Dumbledore has still refused the job he just can't leave Hogwarts". 

"Well I'm sure that you would make a great minister!" Ginny said "thanks" said Harry. 

When lunch was done Harry helped Ginny do the dishes "Thank you for lunch!" said Harry. 

"Oh it was no problem at all Harry, I always cook extra food because you never know when someone will show up" Ginny replied. 

After the dishes were done Ginny offered to let Harry come with her and her parents to go shopping for Ron's welcome home present Harry excepted and soon they were on their way to Diagon Alley. Mr. Weasley used his wand to open the brick wall and they walked inside. The street was more crowded than usual 

"Hogwarts must be starting soon" Harry said 

"Yes it actually starts in two weeks" said Ginny. They made thier way to a new store that Harry had never seen before the sign read, "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" Harry smiled 'so they finally got the joke shop they wanted' he thought to himself, he laughed "what does your mum think about this store?" he asked Ginny. 

Ginny laughed "oh she loves it" she said sarcastically. They walked in, a bell rang as they opened the door then, SPLAT!! the next thing Harry knew he was covered in sparkly purple slime! Fred and George ran out of the back room and started laughing hysterically 

"CONGRATULATIONS HARRY!!" they said "YOUR OUR HUNDREDTH CUSTOMER!" 

Mrs. Weasley was outraged "oh that's a nice way to greet our guest, do you do that to every customer?" she said huffily "no mum only to the lucky ones" Fred said. Ginny put her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter and Mr. Weasley hid his head under a book so nobody would see him laughing . Harry wiped the slime off his glasses and put them back on laughing too. 

"Sorry Harry but the sparkles wont come off until tomorrow" said Fred "but that's okay Harry they make you look absolutely lovely!!" said George. 

Mrs. Weasley quickly changed the subject, "Fred, George, are you two planning on staying at home tonight to greet Ron in the morning?" she asked 

"yes mother" they said together "hey Harry come look at our latest invention!!" said George dragging him into the back room. Ginny followed Fred while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to get money from Gringotts, the wizard bank. The twins led Harry into their "Invention Room" as they called it. It smelled like dust and every once in a while a little "pop" came from the corner.

"Look at these Harry" said Fred showing Harry a handful of little green marbles. "What do they do?" Harry asked 

"well we don't know yet, but we know they do something, see we haven't tested them yet, do you want to?" George asked putting the marbles up to Harry's face. Harry quickly pushed them away thinking of what happened to Dudley the time he ate one of the twins taffies 

"oh that's alright I think I'll pass you don't want to miss the fun do you?" he said. "You know Harry your right, George, lets play marbles tonight" said Fred. Harry was relieved. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came back a few minutes later and they said goodbye to Fred and George then left to look for Ron's present "and make sure you show up tonight!" Mrs. Weasley shouted back to the twins Fred nodded, 

"we won't be too long we're just going to play a quick game of marbles before we join you,..if we join you" he said. 

They walked into the wand shop "why are we here?" asked Harry. 

"Ron broke his wand again, you know how rough it is being an auror and all" Ginny answered. 

"is his work going okay?" Harry asked 

"oh he's fine, he wrote us last night saying that he would be able to come home tomorrow, and he's excited to finally see you and Hermione again" Ginny said. Mr. Weasley followed Mr. Ollivander to the back of the store to look for a wand for Ron and a few minutes later he took out the gold from his pocket and payed for a highly expensive but very good wand for Ron. The Weasleys were no longer poor ever since Ron got his new job as an auror the Weasleys had mounds of gold. 

"Is that all we need?" asked Mr. Weasley 

"I think that he would like some of his favorite candy as well" suggested Harry knowing how much Ron adored candy. 

"Good idea Harry" said Mrs. Weasley. A few minutes later they came out of the sweets shop with three bags full of Ron's absolute favorite candies. 

"Lets head back Ron should have written back and we don't want to miss his owl" said Mr. Weasley. They went back through the wall and used the floo powder to get back to the Burrow. Ginny started to cook dinner with the help of Harry. Mr. Weasley came into the kitchen a while later and told them that Ron had written back "he said he would be here around 10:00 in the morning tomorrow" he told them. After a delicious dinner Harry was full and tired so he made his way up to Ron's room and fell asleep. 

That night Harry had a strange dream. He dreamed that the Weasleys mysteriously disappeared and he had to become and anamagi in order to bring them back. He became a rat and people accused him of being Peter Pettigrew and made him ride his broomstick to Azkaban but when he got there some Asian dude they called Jackie Chan was fighting the dementors and told Harry to escape as fast as possible (A/N: sorry guys I'm listening to the Jackie Chan song), he got onto his broomstick and fell off the next thing he knew he was on the ground and Voldemort was standing right over him his wand pointed right at his heart. 

He woke up quickly and had a piercing headache. Ginny came in a few minutes later with a piece of toast and some milk. "Thanks Ginny" he said taking the food 

"Ron should be here in about two hours, you can come downstairs with us or you can sleep in its your choice" Ginny told him. 

Harry got up and clutched his scar "are you okay?" asked Ginny 

"yeah, I think I just need a little bit more sleep" Harry answered 

"alright I'll leave you alone" said Ginny walking out "sleep well."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two hours later Harry awoke and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. "Oh Harry your awake just in time!!" Ginny said excitedly "Ron just sent a quick owl saying that he had arrived at the train station two minutes ago" 

"great!!" said Harry "I can't wait to see him again its been forever!". 

"Harry I'm going to go and meet him at the station, want to come?" asked Mr. Weasley 

"that's okay" said Harry "I want to help the rest of them set up". Mr. Weasley nodded and disappeared (apparated). The door opened seconds later and Fred and George walked in. 

"Oh dears you came" said Mrs. Weasley hugging them both.

"Hi mum" they said. She let go of them "you didn't sparkle any more customers did you?" she asked sternly 

"um..." said George. Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips and was about to yell when there was a knock on the door. Ginny went to get it. 

"Hermione!!" they heard her say loudly. 

Harry rushed over "Hermione!" he said running over and hugging her 

"its been too long" she said "your so much taller then you were 3 months ago" (A/N: Hermione had been in Egypt studying Ancient Magic) 

"you look a lot different too" said Harry and she did, her hair was no longer bushy but straight and shiny. She had obviously been in the sun because her skin was darker and she had lots of freckles. 

They all walked back into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was still lecturing the twins but she stopped as Hermione walked in "oh Hermione dear!" she said hugging her (she likes to hug people!) "Oh you look absolutely wonderful!"

"Thanks" said Hermione 

"would you like something to eat?" 

"No thank-you, when will Ron be home?" she asked "in a few minutes, Arthur just went to meet him" Mrs. Weasley said. 

Harry noticed the twins slowly and quietly walking up the stairs. Mrs. Weasley turned around "what do you two think you are doing?" she asked 

"Ron will be here soon". The twins looked at each other "uh...we were just going to go play a perfectly harmless game of marbles" George answered quickly "come get us when Ron gets home" said Fred and they ran the rest of the way up the stairs not wanting another lecture. 

Harry and Ginny laughed softly Hermione looked confused. "Well lets get everything ready for Ron" said Mrs. Weasley quickly. The three of them ran around the house decorating it up for the party. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After about 15 minutes of work the house looked wonderful. Harry sat down on the couch to rest. Suddenly there was a big bang and Fred and George walked down the stairs wearing bright pink wigs. Fred was trying to get his off but it was stuck. Harry burst out laughing "Ha ha ha!!" Fred smiled "well now we know what the marbles do, they'll be a hit!!". 

Mr. Weasley arrived at the train station and waited for his son to arrive on the noon train. The train finally stopped at the station and people started to flood out. Mr. Weasley waited anxiously for his son. Time passed and the number people coming out of the train started to decrease, still Ron didn't come. A few more people walked out and the conductors started closing all the doors. Mr. Weasley ran up to one of them "excuse me" he said "is that all the people that were on the train?" 

The conductor nodded "nobody else left" he said. 

"Well can you check?" Mr. Weasley asked. 

The conductor opened the door and looked up and down all of the aisles. "All empty sir" he said 

"No it can't be all empty, my son was supposed to be arriving on this train" Mr. Weasley said 

"Sir, there is nobody else in there" said the conductor getting very annoyed. 

"Well just looking up and down the aisles isn't a thorough search, what if he fell asleep" Mr. Weasley said. 

"What do you want me to do search the compartments?" asked the conductor. 

"Please sir, this is my son". The conductor looked at him, then reluctantly opened the door and walked in. 

"He probably just missed the train" said the conductor as he and Mr. Weasley looked into all of the compartments. 

"No he didn't, something has to have happened to him on the train". Mr. Weasley said anxiously.

They searched all of the compartments until they finally got to the last one. Mr. Weasley slowly opened the door to find Ron lying down petrified! Next to him was a note.

(A/N: hee hee I love cliffhangers thanks for the reviews!!) 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Mr. Weasley fell down next to his son "Ron!! Wake up Ron!" he yelled but it was hopeless Ron was petrified. The conductor fainted. Mr. Weasley then picked up the note and read 

Dear Weasley,

do not worry, your son is not dead...yet

-you really think I would reveal myself? Ha ha ha 

Mr. Weasley clutched the note in horror his son was petrified and someone was out to kill him! He picked up Ron's stiff body and apparated. Back at the burrow the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione waited to welcome Ron. They heard a noise from the front room and hurried over but they didn't expect to see what they saw, Mr. Weasleys eyes were red and he was holding a petrified body. Harry looked closer at the body and his stomach dropped. It was Ron. Mrs. Weasley screamed. "What happened!!??" asked Fred in horror. Mr. Weasley looked at Harry, "go and send an owl to the ministry quick!" he said. Harry ran up the stairs to find Hedwig, she was sitting in the window seal holding a note in her beak. Harry ripped the note out and threw it on the floor he would read it later. Quickly Harry wrote a note to the ministry and tied it to Hedwig then gave her directions of where to go. He then ran back down the stairs forgetting about the letter on the floor. All the Weasleys and Hermione were standing over Ron who was lying on the couch. "Did you send for the ministry?" asked Mr. Weasley as Harry came in. Harry nodded. Hermione and Ginny were both crying hard and George was fanning Mrs. Weasley who had obviously just fainted. About five minutes later some men from the ministry burst into the house holding their wands ready. "What happened?" asked one of the men. "I just found my son petrified in the train he was supposed to come home in" said Mr. Weasley. Another ministry man studied Ron. "This is a very serious curse and it will be very hard to break!" he said sadly "you will try though wont you?" asked Mr. Weasley. "Of course sir, but we are going to have to take him to the ministry of magic headquarters to work on him and try to figure out who did this". Mr. Weasley nodded sadly and the Ministry men carried Ron out. After a while Harry couldn't stand to sit there any longer, nobody had said a word since Ron had left. He got up and went to his room to think. He opened the door to his room and flopped onto the bed. He then noticed a letter sitting on the floor 'oh yeah' he thought 'I forgot about that' he sat up, reached for the letter, and opened it. Inside was a thick piece of parchment with a short message,

Dear Harry, 

I'd watch my back if I were you, I've already taken someone you love and I'm coming back for more!! Beware and take good care of your loved ones you wouldn't want to loose them would you? 

-anonymous 

p.s. poor Hogwarts

Harry looked at the letter confused. 'Who wrote this?' he thought 'and what do they mean poor Hogwarts?'. He laid his head back on the pillow and thought for a minute, his head hurt really bad, after a minute or so he fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Harry woke up the next morning and walked downstairs to find everybody frantic again. Hermione was in the corner crying with Ginny comforting her, Mrs. Weasley had fainted again, Fred was sitting quietly in the corner staring off into space and George had his head down with a letter in his hand. Harry ran down the stairs "WHAT?" he asked. Ginny looked up and pointed at the letter, her eyes were red. Harry walked over to George and grabbed the letter. Mr. Arthur Weasley, you must come to the Ministry headquarters immediately, your son has gone missing. ~ (some weird name) Harry gasped and looked around "Ron's missing?" he asked. George nodded "dad just barely got the news and left immediately" he said. "Since when has he been gone?" Harry asked "last night"said Fred. Harry suddenly turned around and started up the stairs "where are you going?" asked Fred. "Well I can't just sit around while my best friend is missing can I?!" said Harry rushing upstairs. He got into his room and noticed a letter sitting on his bed, he walked over and opened it. Dear Harry, you seriously didn't see that coming? Ha ha ha ha you should have been watching out for him and now he's gone and there's nothing you can do about it. He'll be dead by tomorrow. ~ anonymous Harry ripped up the letter in outrage! He opened the closet, grabbed his invisibility cloak and firebolt, and turned around to see Ginny standing in the doorway "Harry don't go out and look for him!" she said walking over and grabbing both his hands "you'd be in danger, this is most likely about you" she said. "Who would be after me now? Voldemort is defeated" Harry asked "and I'm not going to let somebody hurt Ron when I could do something about it". Ginny sighed "Harry please?" she asked "no" said Harry. "Well than, let me come with you!" Ginny said "NO!!" Harry said louder. "Why not?" Ginny asked "I'm strong enough, and I've always wanted to be and auror, besides, Ron is my brother". Harry let go of her hands "Ginny, I'm going alone!" he said pushing his way past her and flying out the window on his broomstick. a/n: sorry that this chapter is so short!! Please review! Thanks! 


End file.
